Friday, April 16, 2010

I'm writing to remind you about the super duper special Buffy Sainte-Marie Tribute THIS SUNDAY, that is a collaborative effort of the SeaweedSway showcase and the wonderful Songbird Festival. a tremendous amount of work has gone into this show from the artists (& the organizers!! :), i think it will truly be a work of art & magic night. there are some exciting collaborations happening, & this is a one-of-a-kind one-time only show... please come if you can. we are encouraging folks to buy tickets now to make it easier the night of the show. here is the summary, & the details w/ links are below.

below is a cool little write-up about the show was just posted on the SF Weekly site!! thanks to Marc Hawthorne for this. thanks to the Bay Bridged for posting the show, & to the SF Gate for choosing Emily Jane White to be in their Bandwidth section, telling a little bit more about the depths of her music (you can read it here).

"A Tribute to Buffy Sainte-Marie"

Respect Your Elders

By Marc Hawthorne

One of the results of freak-folk flag bearers likeDevendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom making their way into the public consciousness is the spotlight that has been put on their '60s folk-revival influences. Native American singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is on a lot more radars these days, and this Sunday, April 18, several local artists will show their gratitude with a tribute at the Make-Out Room.

"One of the main reasons we wanted to do this show was to bring her music to a new audience, and also bring newer voices to the ears of long-time Buffy fans," says Jessie Woletz, who sings with the all-female choir Conspiracy of Venus and is one of the event's organizers. Artists slated to perform include Emily Jane White, Mariee Sioux (Banhart has compared Sioux to Sainte-Marie), and Michael Musika. There will also be plenty of collaborations, including Conspiracy of Venus and Gabrielle Ekedal tackling "Universal Soldier," Sainte-Marie's poignant antiwar song that stirred up quite a bit of controversy back in the day.

It's worth noting that Sainte-Marie, who last year released a new album, Running for the Drum, played a show in L.A. just last week. Fingers are being crossed that the woman of the hour shows up to bask in the glory of hearing her songs being praised onstage. "We were seeking out artists who we thought would resonate with what Buffy represents," Woletz says. "An event like this involves a little bit of risk for all of the artists, in branching out of their comfort zone and doing covers, especially of someone with a voice like Buffy's. So we sought out people [who were] up for the challenge."

a therapeutics intensive is also starting this weekend at the Yoga Loft, to go more into depth about topics that can help teachers & students who want to deepen their yogic studies. check out the website for more information, or just reply to this message and i can tell you more about it.http://theloftsf.com

the other show myself & others been putting a lot of energy into is the next Chasing the Moon show coming up on Wednesday April 28th, for the full pink moon. here is the summary & the details are below. we would love it if you purchased tickets in advance, it's going to be a truly special gathering. we would appreciate your help to spread the word as this is the biggest Chasing the Moon show yet, and we hope to fill the place up w/ people who will enjoy the music.

"I hear Buffy's influences in the macabre lullabies of Diamanda Galas and the sagacious song stories of Mariee Sioux." - Devendra Banhart in Bust Magazine

Cree Indian folksinger Buffy Sainte-Marie first made a name for herself in the folk revival scene of the early 1960s, and released her successful debut “It’s My Way!” in 1964. Her intense vibrato and complete vocal fearlessness are often compared to Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez, but her political stances are very much her own. After recording “Universal Soldier,” a song which takes individual soldiers to task for participating in war (“He’s the Universal Soldier, and he really is to blame,” she sang) Sainte-Marie was blacklisted from radio on orders from the White House itself -- in the late 1960s, this was a career death sentence. Not one to let others slow her down, she became a regular cast member of children’s television show Sesame Street, noting that she wanted kids to know that Indians still existed and were part of society. Popular culture, then as now, wasn’t forthcoming with that information. Education was and remains important to her, and she also saw Sesame Street as an exercise in democratic learning. She continued to make music, however, enjoying success overseas and in “Indian Country.” In 1969, she came out with one of the first records to feature electronically generated sounds, with her voice and guitars altered to psychedelic effect by a Buchla synthesizer. This went against the “Pocahontas with a guitar” image that many had formed of her, and “Illuminations” apparently scared a lot of fans away. Today, it’s seen as an important musical advance and a skilled collaboration between musician and scientist, in addition to being yet another signal of a great mind at work. Currently on tour behind her new, well-reviewed record, “Running for the Drum,” Sainte-Marie continues to enchant her fans, who include Morrissey, Rufus Wainwright, Robbie Robertson, and Neko Case, among other notable people. For these reasons and many others, and out of admiration for her eclectic, adventurous fashion sensibilities, we pay her tribute.

Buffy's Academy Award-winning song will be performed, just for us, on April 18. There is either nothing better, or else nothing worse, than the following clip. Jennifer Warnes' hair will not be joining us, alas. Here it is - Up Where We Belong, sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes:

featuring the premier of HONEYCOMB*'s Chasing the Moon video podcast!myspace.com/honeycombmusic*not playing live, but will be fully present at the show, & possibly collaborating on songs or singing along w/ Sonyaplus live music from

SONYA COTTONLabeled "The Frida Khalo of songwriting," Sonya's compositions are deeply personal, drawing upon her dreams, family, and love; they often come from a place of profound reverence for the natural world and the creatures of the earth. "Sonya Maria Cotton ... is a really damn fine singer." --Pitchforksonyacotton.com

JASCHA VS. JASCHAAfter using his dreams to spark a music career in Brooklyn, Jascha moved to San Francisco to record his first album. With hushed vocals and unexpected twists, his songs are vulnerable, clever and eccentric. Jascha will be joined by Dina Maccabee and special guests to celebrate the release of his album *A Cure For Sleep*—and the launch of an open-source songwriting blog.

KRIS GRUENBorn in New York City, Kris Gruen is a Vermont-based singer-songwriter. Often compared to Andrew Bird, The Arcade Fire, and The Decembrists, Part of It All, with the help of Mother West producers/engineers Charles Newman, JJ Beck and Rob Stevens, takes Gruenâ€™s songs and stories to an adventurous and fresh musical place.krisgruen.com

CHASING THE MOONChasing the Moon is a monthly local music podcast that is celebrated with a live show on the full moon each month.chasingthemoon.pdcst.com

SEAWEED SWAY

SeaweedSway is a project to promote & encourage community around Bay Area music, yoga, & nature events.

"Full Pink Moon: This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month's celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn."farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names

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